Surgery Waits

Public hospital surgery waiting times in Australian Capital Territory

In 2024–25, Australian Capital Territory's median waits ranged from 133 days for inguinal hernia repair to 388 days for knee replacement, across 3 public hospitals.

Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released

Australian Capital Territory public hospitals report their planned-surgery waiting times to the national collection once a year. This page brings the state's figures together: every surgery type with a published state median, every hospital, and the urgency-category performance — each linking to the detailed comparison.

Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick a surgery and type your suburb to see the public hospitals within reach, ordered by their published wait. Nothing you type there is kept.

Waiting times by surgery in Australian Capital Territory

Median waiting time by surgery type in Australian Capital Territory public hospitals, 2024–25, shortest first. Surgeries with the same median share a rank. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Rank Surgery State median National median Waited more than 365 days Hospitals reporting
1 Inguinal hernia repair 133 days 73 days 10.3% 2
2 Hernia repair 140 days 86 days 12.7% 2
3 Hip replacement 181 days 130 days 22.8% 2
4 Tonsillectomy 302 days 182 days 46.0% 2
5 Knee replacement 388 days 255 days 53.0% 2

Treated on time, by urgency category

Urgency figures cover all planned surgery at the hospital, not one procedure. They are never combined with the procedure figures. What each category means, with every hospital compared nationally, is on the urgency categories pages.

Share of patients treated within the clinically recommended time at Australian Capital Territory public hospitals, by urgency category, 2024–25. Ranked on Category 1 (urgent); hospitals with the same figure share a rank. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
RankHospitalCategory 1 (urgent)Category 2 (semi-urgent)Category 3 (non-urgent)
1 The Canberra Hospital82%39%65%
2 North Canberra Hospital66%69%73%

Across the border from Australian Capital Territory

A public hospital referral can cross a state border, and near a border the shorter published wait is often on the other side. These are the biggest published differences involving Australian Capital Territory hospitals in 2024–25 — the full cross-border comparison explains how they are computed, and the referral guide explains what crossing the border involves.

Biggest published cross-border differences in median wait involving Australian Capital Territory, 2024–25. Hospitals within 100 km of each other, straight-line. A shorter median is not a recommendation.
Surgery Longer wait Across the border Distance Difference
Hernia repair North Canberra Hospital (ACT) — 199 days Queanbeyan Hospital (NSW) — 28 days 17 km 171 days
Hip replacement Goulburn Base Hospital (NSW) — 312 days North Canberra Hospital (ACT) — 168 days 80 km 144 days
Inguinal hernia repair North Canberra Hospital (ACT) — 191 days Queanbeyan Hospital (NSW) — 70 days 17 km 121 days
Knee replacement North Canberra Hospital (ACT) — 446 days Goulburn Base Hospital (NSW) — 332 days 80 km 114 days
Hernia repair The Canberra Hospital (ACT) — 127 days Queanbeyan Hospital (NSW) — 28 days 12 km 99 days
Cite this page

In 2024–25, Australian Capital Territory's published median waits for planned surgery ranged from 133 days for inguinal hernia repair to 388 days for knee replacement, across 3 public hospitals.

Copy-ready citation

Surgery Waits, "Australian Capital Territory surgery waiting lists", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/state/act/, accessed 28 May 2026.

Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/state/act/), from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare MyHospitals data, CC BY 3.0 AU. Reference period 2024–25, released 28 May 2026.

Every public hospital in Australian Capital Territory

Sorted by how many surgery types each reported for 2024–25. A hospital's own page lists every surgery it reports, its urgency-category figures and its history.

What is not here

Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.

State medians cover everyone who had that surgery in the state, in all urgency categories together — how these figures are put together.